Gov. Rick Snyder also objected to the proposal, but can’t stop it from being on the November ballot.

Responding to these comments, Louis Stocking said he designed the proposal to lobby for decriminalization and label the city as a pot-friendly place.

Stocking, 24, of Kalamazoo has been working to bring the proposal to voters for the past two years. He said he examined similar measures in Santa Barbara and Hawaii while working on the Kalamazoo proposal.

“They’re not enforced all the time,” Stocking said. “It’s more of a symbolic thing to lobby state and local law enforcement officials for decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.”

He asks voters to vote for what they believe is right. In his experience, Stocking said it is hard to convince someone who doesn’t support marijuana use to “switch sides” on the issue.

“If it’s something they don’t believe in, I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince them,” he said.

If passed by voters, Stocking said he hopes it will attract people from outside of Kalamazoo to the city, because “they’ll know we’re liberal when it comes to marijuana.”

Stocking said he knew from the beginning that the marijuana measure wouldn’t directly affect enforcement, but hopes it will change the attitudes of some police officers.

“I do believe some officers may change the way they enforce marijuana. This could help them turn a blind eye to a few things because they know it’s a waste of time,” Stocking said. “They had no justification to do that before.”

He said he wants to see the government stop wasting money incarcerating people for non-violent offenses like marijuana possession.

Responding to Gov. Rick Snyder’s disapproval of the ballot initiative, Stocking said, “It’s the voters’ right. He can’t turn against it. There is a petition and a mass of people who want it on the ballot.”